lainith

Omg. You guys get lunches? And breaks? I can't remember the last time I got to sit down while on the clock (besides paperwork once the next shift came in) with the exception of kneeling on the floor in front of a resident for a dressing change. *sigh* That being said, I frequently see staff taking rest breaks (maybe sleeping, I don't know for sure) during their lunch on third shift. Doesn't bother me. Leave on time, come back on time, do your job, why should it matter? But I don't make the rules...

We are not supposed to have visible tattoos. I have one on my inner wrist and I cover it with two bandages. I have forgotten many times (I don't always remember I have it) and no one has ever said anything. I am the only person in my class who has a tattoo that is visible so I don't know what anyone else would have to do. Usually if you ask your clinical instructor they will tell you what they expect. Good luck!

I hear this all the time and I'm 28!!! Good for you for knowing what you want and going for it, no matter what age.

All I can say is that this is why when people ask me how I did on exams, whether I did well or not, my response is always, "Good!" It is no one's business how I score on exams. And if one person knows, the whole class knows. I learned that the hard way and got sick of people insisting that I did anything other than work hard to earn my grades. I'm sorry this happened to you and I hope that the situation will work out. I found that the girls I am in class with, we just don't all mesh. I've tried to turn over a new leaf and look at these people as my peers and know I don't have to associate with all or any of them. Keep up the hard work and good luck with the rest of school - you found your niche for test taking and I hope it continues to pay off!

We got textbooks and videos and that was it. We had opportunities to go into the lab and ask our instructor to demonstrate skills or help us out and those who didn't take advantage of that were S.O.L.

It's amazing how far a simple "thank you" can get you. I always thank the nurses when we leave the floor from a shift of clinical, thank my instructor each shift as well... and always thank my patients for allowing me to care for them because I realize they have the right to refuse a student and it really is appreciated that they let us work with them. The thank you's really do make people feel good and I have been so blessed to get some thank you's in return and that sure feels good. Politeness NEVER goes out of style.

I worked as a home health care aid before entering nursing school. It has given me a very small advantage in being comfortable working with patients and having some basis of knowledge in different areas.

I am a second year student and I am taking it this semester in order to keep my full-time status for financial aid and scholarship money. Hoping it will be pretty easy now and have heard from lots of students that it was helpful.

So I was speeding through my pharm calculations from my Peds course pack before school starts next week and I found a section that has me stumped. I can't find anything like it in my pharm or Math for Meds book so I can't find a formula or way of solving these. Anyone have some insight on how I am supposed to figure these out? It'd be mighty helpful! Ticarcillin is stable in solutions at room temperature for 1 hour. It can be give IV bolus over 10 minutes. If administered by burette, the flow rate for pediatric microdrip is: gtt/minute = mL/hour (60gtt = 1mL), Thus 60gtt/minute = 60mL/hour (or 60mL/60 minutes)" 6 - You're about to give the required dose using microdrip tubing. Considering the stability of ticarcillin and the volume to be infused, what's the minimum flow rate for safe administration? (From the previous problem I solved the volume is 12mL.) 7 - Given the time limit for the IV bolus method (10 minutes), what's the maximum flow rate you can use to deliver 12mL of ticarcillin with a concentration of 1Grams/5mL? Flow rate consideration: You'll determine the appropriate IV flow rate based on several considerations, including the minimum amount of solution needed to infuse the drug, the patient's fluid restrictions, and how quickly the drug must be infused. You'll also take into account the patient's activity, any discomfort at the IV site, and other drug orders. 8 - You must administer 600mg of ticarcillin. What's the range for the IV flow rate? 9 - What's the time restriction on administering 600mg of ticarcillin to this child? 10 - How long would it take to infuse 600mg of ticarcillin in 12mL at a flow rate of 40gtt/minute? 11 - How long would it take to infuse 600mg in 15mL at a flow rate of 40gtt/minute? 12 - If you decide to give 600mg in 12mL over 20minutes, which flow rate would you use? And they go on and on. Am I missing something? Am I supposed to be able to look up the IV flow rate range and stuff somewhere? There's lots more questions and this is NOTHING we went over in Pharm so I'm lost. Any direction would be helpful and thank you so much in advance!!!

I noticed SO many people wearing their hair down but it gets in my face and seems unprofessional. I wear my hair in a ponytail every time with my bangs bobby-pinned back in some fashion. I actually get compliments on how it looks quite often. Won't be like that for long because I am cutting it short again soon and then it will just be styled away from my face.

I got very excited about buying my supplies my first year and this year I have decided that I am more interested in saving myself some money and getting a better pair of shoes for clinicals. I have lots of folders, binders, pens, etc. and will only be stocking up on note cards because I use them like crazy. I'm going to be spending the bulk of my school supply money on NCLEX books again. :) Enjoy it, girls and boys!

I love the willingness and eagerness to learn! Even when I think someone asked a really "duh" question, I figure at least they asked! I love the extra curiosity that the really young students have and I enjoy that I can ask some of the older students just about ANY life question and they have helpful advice. I sincerely enjoy my classmates for the most part. There are a few "bad apples" but basically a bushel of good gals. :)

The only person I am out to please is myself. I shoot as high as I can. I WANT that A but I am happy with what I earn as long as I pass my classes. My grades a direct reflection of how hard I work. I am one who is happy for those who work hard and do well but will be the first to admit that it burns me when slackers and cheaters do better than I do! My classmates are not my competition, though many see it that way. They are my friends, practically my family. I spend more time with some of them than I do my own family and my boyfriend. I want to see them do well, too.

I don't know if I could do the work if I didn't get paid but the nicer salary is definitely one of the reasons I went into nursing as OPPOSED to another area of the medical field. I knew for a long time that I wanted to work in health care but I didn't quite know what I wanted to do. I jumped into nursing head-first and have been excited and happy about my choice... and the future promising income sure doesn't hurt. Would I be able to do it if I didn't have a passion for what I am going to be doing? Probably not! Would I do it if I wasn't going to be well-paid? Probably not. All I care about is that I will be doing something I want to do and getting a better income than the one I have know. Works for me!

I only drive about 5 minutes. If I had time I could probably walk but I'm lazy now that I'm in school.

I have that book too. It was pretty good. Honestly, before nursing school started I started doing a couple NCLEX questions a night out of my books and flash cards and the other reading that I already do out of pure interest about medicine, etc... but really I spent most of my time doing FUN reading because I wisely knew that there would not be time for that once school started. I enjoyed my summer as much as I possibly could. Vacationed, spent time outdoors, read the Twilight book series, read magazines, spent time with my family! If you're taking Pharm, brush up on basic math. I bought Pharmacology Demystified or something like that I read that towards the end of summer and during my class and it was helpful. If you can get your hands on your texts early, try to do that and read those! Can't hurt. :)

Didn't keep mine because I needed the buy-back money at the time. Sold it on eBay and made a good amount of the money I spent on it back. Wish I had it now but I have countless other microbiology references now that I have gotten for free over the last year. Older, "out-dated" micro books, etc. Unlike the PP, I use my nursing books constantly. We do not have enough time in lecture to go over all the material we have to know for class and I do a LOT of reading on my own time.

Like the PPs have said: practice, practice, practice. Get all the time in in lab that you can, ask family and friends to let you practice skills on them. I wouldn't have made it through lab had my friends and family members not stepped up and let me practice my skills on them. It's hard to think back and realize that in September I had no idea how to take a manual blood pressure, find someone's apical pulse, count respirations, or do what now seems like the most basic of health assessment skills. And I STILL watch my skills DVDs that came with my book. I spent literally HOURS a day in the skills lab in my first semester. When I wasn't practicing my skills, I was watching others and trying to learn their techniques, watching and listening to my instructor, etc. I had a lot of invaluable experiences given to me in that time when I didn't "have" to be there.

Let me be the first to congratulate you! :) Nursing school is exciting, scary, fun, hard work, terrifying... you'll love it. Some guys have said that they feel they have a difficult time in SOME aspects of the whole experience, specifically in OB and Peds. My DBF is an LPN and he told me his program was amazing and he always felt welcomed by students and staff alike. I have had two fellow male students. Can't speak much for either of them because they both had problems right from the beginning though... not showing up for clinical got one of them kicked out first week of this semester. Hope it will be a positive experience for you!

Will be done with my first year May 12th as well. Back to school for summer OB rotation and classes June 8th! Looking forward to enjoying a little time off school and out in the sunshine!

Trust me, I wasn't born with the knowledge I have gained in nursing school. But the river runs both directions. I also couldn't have ever been taught to feel the compassion that I and fellow nursing students feel for our patients. I couldn't have been taught to give a d@mn whether someone lives or dies or what their quality of life is. Give it some thought and you'll come to some of your own conclusions.

Math is a HUGE part of nursing but fear not! Most of the calculations and formulas that you need to know are not too difficult to learn and use. Brush up on your basic math and skills from algebra. The Math for Meds books are SO helpful. Brushing up on medication dosages and basic math is one of the biggest things I can recommend for any incoming student. I spent my summer before nursing school trying to enjoy spending time with my friends and family, traveling, and reading NCLEX and medication managment books. All of those things really helped. I also spent a good deal of time watching videos on YouTube. Believe it or not, there's access to a lot of very interesting medical information and practical nursing skills videos on YouTube! CNA-type fundamental skills that you will need to know can be found in lots of videos online. The CDROMS that came with our books were great and I only wish we had had access to them BEFORE classes! Good luck to all of you who start nursing school soon. It's an adventure! :redbeathe

I am rounding out the end of my first year and we do it ALL. We take care of every need of our assigned patients from bed making to baths to medication administration to toileting, whatever comes up. And when our patient isn't in need of our assistance, we are out on the floors helping aids and nurses with whatever they need. If someone needs a bath, we give it to them. The only thing we do NOT do for patients that are not ours is medication administration. All cares that we are able to do, we do.

My boyfriend gave me this book called The Human Body. You can get it at Border's, Amazon, B&N, etc. It is an A&P/Micro type book and I love it. I am a first year student finishing up the LPN portion of school and I STILL use it all the time. :)

I guess personally I would ask why the patient wanted to know. And then assure them that no matter the difference in what you and the patient believe, you support them and their beliefs because that's your job. I am really not a gung-ho religious individual and I sort of think it makes it a LOT easier for me to be able to support people's religious decisions since I don't really have any conflict of my own there.